Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>]

I have a question of scholars on this list versed in Hebrew, is the 
following information correct or incorrect, or "in dispute" as to meaning 
regarding the word karu or ka'ari ?

Cf. the below quoted statement:

"On Psalm 22:16 "they pierced my hands and my feet" (King James Version), 
Christians here found a famous example of an explicit prefiguration of 
Jesus's sufferings. In the Gospel story, the Romans pierce his hands and 
feet with nails in preparation for his being hung upon the cross. Nitzachon 
Vetus answered that the word given in the Latin translation as "they 
pierced" is written in the Hebrew original not as karu ("they pierced"), but 
as ka'ari ("like a lion"). The entire verse is properly translated, "For 
dogs have surrounded me; a pack of evildoers has enclosed me, like a lion 
[at] my hands and my feet." In biblical poetry, such as in the book of 
Psalms, the second half of a verse typically echoes the first. With this in 
mind, we should expect the imagery of being torn by wild beasts to be 
consistent from phrase to phrase -and it is. A modern update of the King 
James Bible, the Revised Standard Version, now includes a footnote 
acknowledging the more authentic translation of the verse." (p. 168. David 
Klinghoffer. Why The Jews Rejected Jesus. New York. Doubleday. 2005. ISBN 
0-385-51021-7)

Regards, Walter
Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
mattfeld12 AT charter.net
www.bibleorigins.net